Six Section Tray in Blue Stain Pine

Here's a stylish tray to set off your snacks or maybe provide a bit of flair to your table. At 12" in diameter, it doesn't take up a ton of table space. With the sections each being about an inch deep. you can pile on plenty of snacks. There is a 6 oz ramekin to hold dips or salsa and the graceful curves to the sections give the tray a little visual interest. Why be boring? This tray is made from solid beetle kill pine (also called blue stain pine) which gives it a wonderful combination of colors and patterns.

You will notice a couple of knots and a split in the picture. Knots are pretty darn common in the pine that I get and this batch had a fair amount of splits. These aren't imperfections, they are what make the wood special. I stabilize these (when needed) with a 2 part epoxy.I tend to add a silver metallic flake to the epoxy because it complements the wood so well (although I have been known to do other colors of flake from time to time and occasionally even get a little crazy and do more of a liquid bronze or an opalescent color). I originally added the metallic flake to my line of games because I figured that the kids would like the sparkly ones. It turns out that adults are just as drawn to them. The sparkly spots are usually pretty small, often the size of a dime or less.

The particular tray in the picture is one of several that I have made. You may get the same exact tray as is in the picture, but it is more likely that you will get a different one. Variations in the wood will give each tray its own natural beauty and some may have more colorful epoxy than the one shown.